Pitney Bowes 2005 Annual Report Download - page 6

4
eBay users in Canada in early 2006. Less well
known is the fact that we are a world leader in
providing software for transportation logistics, a
$1 billion market that involves helping shippers
manage relationships with multiple carriers.
Another facet of remote commerce is easier
access to carrier services. Our carrier management
solutions are already available to consumers at
more than 2,000 office superstores and other retail
locations. We are now in beta testing of our new
postal kiosks, which will allow consumers to buy
postage and ship packages through the USPS®
without going to the post office.
Voting by mail represents yet another kind of
remote commerce. We launched our Relia-Vote™
Mail Balloting System to provide governments
the secure solution needed to accommodate
the growing popularity of voting by mail.
Trends in direct mail marketing, which has
continued to grow as a percentage of total
advertising spending during the past 30 years,
also play to our strengths. Direct marketers are
moving toward more targeted, personalized and
eye-catching campaigns to increase response
rates. There is also the convergence of transactional
and marketing mail, as businesses recognize that
their bills and statements represent a monthly
appointment with their customers that has
tremendous cross-sell and up-sell potential.
Finally, organizations of all sizes are recognizing
the need to communicate regularly and
systematically with their customers and other
stakeholders — and that the mailstream is an
essential part of a multichannel marketing
mix that drives world-class customer
communication management.
We acquired Group 1 Software for its advanced
capabilities in leveraging the vast amounts of
data needed to create personalized, targeted
marketing. Our 2005 acquisition of Imagitas
also expands our presence in direct mail and
leverages our mail services network. Imagitas
specializes in life-event marketing, building
innovative public-private partnerships
to help businesses reach potential customers
when they are most likely to buy.
Personalization is not just popular among
professional marketers, of course. Through a
new partnership with Zazzle.com, we are giving
consumers the ability to create customized U.S.
postage products. Consumers can personalize
ZazzleStamps™with photographs they provide
or with images from Zazzle’s own collection.
Our research found a significant opportunity
among people sending greeting cards, wedding
invitations, birth announcements and similar
special event mail. We believe the market for
customized U.S. postage products will only
continue to grow, now that federal legislation has
been enacted that clears the way for the U.S. Postal
Service to allow the use of approved commercial
images on customized postage products.
Our acquisition of Imagitas expands
our presence in direct mail and
leverages our mail services network